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Psycho-Score

Okaru
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chs / week
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Synopsis
One day, when a seemingly ordinary highschool had been covered by an impenetrable white barrier, all the teachers had disappeared, and the students were forced to play certain games in order to gain points. It was no death game, but in order to survive, students needed points which could be exchanged for food, shelter, and other essentials. The mysterious voice on the school’s PA system warned that running out of points would result in severe penalties, pushing students to compete, strategize, and even manipulate one another.

Table of contents

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Chapter 1 - First Move

"In order to understand the cause, we need to look through the key events,"

the teacher went on, lecturing about history. Yet, the room was filled with disinterested students who spun their mechanical pencils, some doodled in their notebooks, and one gazed blankly at the clock.

When the bell finally rang, the teacher took a look at the students, he sighed and left.

*clang, clang*

Suddenly, a voice crackled through the loudspeaker which was mounted in the corner of the ceiling, a voice, which was too unnatural and deep to possibly belong to a student or a teacher.

"WELCOME, FEW CHOSES ONES."

The students were confused as their conversations froze, the classroom fell silent. The voice echoed from the speaker as if it didn't just came from the small PA system but from everywhere. Most assumed it was a prank from the broadcast room, but their expectations were soon to be confronted.

The voice resumed,

"OPEN YOUR PHONES. AND FIND A NEW APP, WHICH I DOUBT COULD BE UNINSTALLED..."

A few students started to unlock their phones, swiping and scrolling to notice a new app...

"It's true! There's a new app!" One confirmed, followed by another, who also confirmed.

"LET ME EXPLAIN," the voice continued,

"THE WORLD YOU USED TO LIVE IN AND THE WORLD YOU NOW INHABIT ARE SEPARATE. LOOK AT THE SKY THROUGH THE WINDOW."

Few students looked through the window, the usual sky, was no longer there, the sky was just pitch blue, with no clouds.

Some students tried to exit the room via the door, but it didn't budged.

"This… this has to be a prank!" a student stammered,

"Everyone, calm down!"

"UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S NO JOKE."

One student, calmly spoke,

"A sky which is just pitch blue, no clouds, do you really think someone could pull off a prank like this?"

The student who calmly spoke was the class representative, Tanagawa, a calm girl with a sense of authority, she stood up, and asked.

"How can you hear us?"

"I HAVE MY EYES EVERYWHERE."

The students looked around the classroom, in order to find any possible hidden cameras.

"I see..." She responded.

The voice continued as if unbothered.

"LET'S NOT WASTE TIME. THE APP IS CALLED PS. AT THE START, YOU HAVE ONLY 1,000 POINTS. THESE POINTS ARE THE CURRENCY OF THIS WORLD, AND YOUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS UPON THEM. THERE ARE OTHER 'SEVERAL WAYS' TO EARN POINTS, BUT THE MAIN ONE IS TO PARTICIPATE IN GAMES."

"Games?" asked a student with glasses, Tachibana, his voice sounded cautious.

"YOU'LL FACE CONSEQUENCES. WITHOUT POINTS, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STAY IN THIS REALITY'S 'APARTMENT.' LIVING IN THE APARTMENT COSTS 50 POINTS PER DAY. WHEN YOUR POINTS DROP BELOW ZERO, YOU WILL BE CHARGED AN ADDITIONAL 150 POINTS PER DAY—FORCED TO PLAY THE HARDER GAMES. YOU CAN TRADE POINTS WITH OTHER PLAYERS, BUT BE WARNED: A BALANCE BELOW 3,000 WILL REMOVE YOU FROM SOCIETY. EVEN WINNING A GAME WILL ONLY GRANT YOU 50% OF THE POINTS."

"50%?" Tachibana muttered.

"AND FINALLY, YOU MAY USE YOUR POINTS IN THE APP TO BUY NECESSITIES LIKE FOOD AND WATER. HOWEVER, FOOD ISN'T THE ONLY ITEM AVAILABLE…"

*clack*

As the voice from the loudspeaker stopped, the room felt silent for a while, students exchanged uneasy glances, then a sound came from every student's phone, the students unlocked their phones to see a notification which read,

"PS: Welcome to the first game, Guilt Tokens.

 DIFFICULTY: Easy"

Clicking on the notification redirected to opening the PS app, they were given a choice, participate or do not participate. Applications were up for ten minutes, some students, again tried to open the door, 

"Dammit! Why isn't it opening!?"

but it still didn't budged, they had no other choice but to participate.

"You have successfully applied,"

"You have successfully applied,"

"You have successfully applied,"

"You have successfully applied,"

A sound came from individual to individual's phone, notifying that the person has participated.

"Wait, why are you all participating? Let's instead find a way out!" One girl, with long pigtails protested.

"Isn't it obvious? There's no other way out." Shiori spoke out.

"You have successfully applied,"

"I guess I will participate as well..." Daichi muttered,

"You have successfully applied,"

One fellow student, who seemed to be lost blankly in thoughts, Takumi Kuroda, finally opened the app, chose to participate without hesitating. 

"You have successfully applied,"

"You don't seem to be hesitant, Kuroda." said Aoi Inoue ,

"Well, what else could I have possibly done then?" Takumi replied,

"Dunno." She said as she clicked on participate,

"You have successfully applied,"

"Just running your mouth I see."

He said as he scrolled to read,

"Objective: Watch your assigned target and report their actions every five minutes. Each confirmed report earns you 50 points. Be careful: if the target catches you observing them, they win 1000 points, and you are eliminated, as well as lose 500 points. Incorrect accusations cost the target 250 points."

'Potential Reports' would be sent to every participants phone, if the report is marked as a potential report, the report gains additional 100 Points, or a sum of 150 points.

Total of twelve rounds the game lasts for 60 minutes. Reports cannot be a lie."

Participant with the most points by the end of the game gains additional points of 5000."

"Seems easy enough." He thought.

Few minutes had gone by, Takumi's phone's screen showed;

"1 minute and 47 seconds remaining until initiated."

The countdown went on,

"1 minute and 09 seconds remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 46 seconds remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 17 seconds remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 4 seconds remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 3 seconds remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 2 seconds remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 1 second remaining until initiated."

"0 minute and 0 second remaining until initiated."

"Game Initiated!"

As the game initiated, every participant started looking for who their targets were, making sure that their targets are not aware of them. Takumi looked for his target, it read "Target: Shiori Inoue."

"Are you serious? Inoue out of all the people? But works to my advantage, she is just adjacent to me..." He mocked the gamemaster in his thoughts.

"Listen! Everyone! Let me propose a way to win the most points possible for every student!" A tall, handsome student, Tachibana Fukube stood up, 

"Let's not accuse each other, one wrong assumption can lead to losing 500 points, and another wrong assumption can lead to having just 0 points!"

"Yes it's true let's not do that"

"Yeah, it's the best way."

Students exchanged words, some decided that what Tachibana said was correct, some were skeptical, some were hesitant to follow such words coming from someone like him.

"Do it as you please, but I am not doing that." Daichi was completely hesitant to what Tachibana had said, as they had a long history of rivalry.

Takumi, glanced on the screen, it indicated four minutes and twenty-two seconds were remaining, the clock hanged on the classroom was ticking, he thought,

"Report any action every five minutes? Most people would report a certain mechanical action that a person has done, like 'X used his phone'. But without even glancing at the certain individual or target I am given, why is it marked as easy? Because you can report something like 'X moved his/her fingers' instead. Which has a 99% Accuracy, and makes it almost as impossible for any person to suspect that they are your target."

Every participant glanced at one another in a cautious way, making sure their targets didn't catch them. Some started writing their reports, some were observing their surroundings some were still observing their targets.

Takumi didn't put much thought into it, as he wrote in the interface.

"Shiori Inoue moved her fingers" 

He tapped on the submit button, and his first report was completed, as he thought, it worked, it gained him 50 points, his balance was now 1500 points. He had finished his report, within the first two minutes, now as he had nothing to do, he again, stared mindlessly and the ticking clock.

Minutes had went by and it was the time for the first round to be over, it seemed everyone had done submitting their reports.

"Round Over." It showed on their screens.

*clack, clack*

A familiar voice came from the loudspeaker...

"WELL... WELL... WE HAVE SOME INTERESTING RESULTS..."